


Ethereal

by Siyah_Kedi



Category: Original Work
Genre: old, originally written in 2012
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 19:22:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14503809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siyah_Kedi/pseuds/Siyah_Kedi
Summary: I don't even know.





	Ethereal

Starting the day in a tent was only marginally better than starting it at her house, but Dan was getting used to it.  The only thing she missed was a functioning toilet, because she could shower at the local pool.  And school would be over soon, so it wasn’t as though it was cold outside.  She dressed in her uniform and made her way out of the tent.  The spring morning air was crisp and cool, and the sun was barely peeking over the tops of the trees.  It would warm up as the day waxed, but now it was pleasant.  She stretched and gathered her things, pausing momentarily as a brief, uncertain feeling swept over her.  She carried everything she owned in a duffel bag and usually brought it to school with her in case something happened to the tent. 

With her two bags slung over her shoulder, Dan checked over her campsite and turned for the main road.  She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen, but she shook it off and kept going.  Before she made it to the road, however, a curious clanging sound and shouting caught her attention.  Having been pretty sure that the land she was sleeping on was a public park or nature preserve, or something, she was startled by the sounds of nearby humanity and turned to go investigate it.  As she crested a hill, she caught sight of a massive house rising out of a clearing in the forest.  Something caught her eye by her feet, but when she looked it was gone.  _A shadow cat,_ she realised, and was surprised that they’d followed her out here.  She’d seen them all over her house, doing normal cat things like washing themselves and running around, but they were never very clearly defined; just a shadow in the shape of a cat.  It hadn’t taken her long, either, to discover that no one else was aware of them.  Seeing the shadow cat out here was a little bit of a relief, as when the cats were around they kept the dogs from coming.  The dogs – like the shadow cats – were large dog-shaped shadows without clear definition.  But she continually got the feeling that they wanted to hurt her in some way, and they frightened her. 

Another clashing sound from below drew her attention back to the house.  Two boys were standing in the yard, swinging sticks at one another.  As she descended the hill and came closer, she realised they weren’t sticks, but swords.  The clanging noises were from the fight, which looked deadly earnest now that she was closer.  Dan considered saying something to them, and then realised that if they weren’t supposed to be living in a protected reserve then neither was she and thought better of it.  _I’m going to be late for school anyway,_ she thought, and turned to go back the way she’d come.  A tree root she’d absently stepped over the first time caught her foot as she tried to step over it again, and she lost her balance.  With an involuntary shout, she slid to the ground and rolled down the hill.  Her bags went flying, and she finally came to a stop at the base of the hill.  Nothing seemed to be broken, but she was going to have some pretty fierce bruises. 

As she picked herself up off the ground, two shadows loomed over her.  Dan looked up into the faces of the two combatants, feeling her face turn red with embarrassment.  “Sorry for intruding,” she said.  “I’ll be on my way.”

“Bier?  Where did _you_ come from?”

The voice was familiar, and as she pulled herself to her feet, she looked at them again and almost groaned.  It was Josslin Amarant, one of the boys from her class.  This was going to be an awkward explanation.

 

“You’re already late,” Vander said, handing her a cup of coffee.   The three of them were seated at the kitchen table inside the house, and Dan was feeling distinctly uncomfortable.  Not only was the kitchen larger than her entire house, there was a feeling of camaraderie and familial warmth to the entire room that was disconcerting.  “You may as well just skip at this point.”

“We’re not that late,” Josslin said, accepting his coffee.  To Dan, he said “You can still go if you want.  I wasn’t planning on coming in today either way.”

Dan shrugged.  “No real reason to go,” she said, then paused because she wasn’t sure if she was welcome here.  Josslin was friendly enough, but his friend Vander was sneaking her dark looks when he thought she wasn’t looking.  Having been long experienced with nasty looks from her family, Dan was well aware he was doing it.  She knew she’d interrupted something, and felt a little bit bad, but it had been a long time since she’d had a real chair in a warm room with a hot cup of coffee.  School and rec centers didn’t count.  “I’ll just drink this and leave you alone,” she added.

“Don’t feel like we’re trying to chase you out,” Josslin said, shooting Vander a look that clearly said _stifle it!_   He’d noticed the looks Vander was giving her too, then, Dan decided.  She knew his name from school – how not, when they shared most of the same classes? – but she’d never been on particularly friendly terms with him before.  Kat – as the one person who’d stuck by her side for fifteen years and hadn’t been chased away – had remarked on more than one occasion that the two of them sent out mutually incompatible ‘Stay Away’ vibes, and then jokingly added that if they were to get too close things might start spontaneously exploding with the combined power of their antisocialness.  Well, they were at the same table but so far nothing had blown up. 

“Not to be rude,” Vander said after the silence had gone on too long.  He propped one hip up against the counter.  “But you are aware this is private property, right?”  

Dan flushed.  “No, actually, I wasn’t,” she said.  “I thought this whole forest was protected under the wildlife preserve.”

“Most of it is,” Josslin said.  “There are signs posted all around the perimeter.  You must have just missed them on your way in.”

Dan glanced at him gratefully, but Vander ruined the pleasant air a moment later.

“On your way in from _where,_ by the way?  And what made you come all the way out here?”

“Dude,” Josslin intervened before Dan could even open her mouth.   “Will you ease up on the interrogation?”

Vander came away from the counter and for a moment Dan was afraid they were about to start fighting again – with or without the swords.

“No, it’s fine,” she interjected.  “I got kicked out of my house, so I’ve been sleeping in the woods.  I was getting ready for school and I heard you two fighting.  I didn’t know what it was so I was coming to investigate and I tripped.  I didn’t actually mean to interrupt you.  And thank you, um, for the coffee.  It’s been a while and I appreciate it.  I probably should get going though, and…”

An eerie sensation rippled across the back of her neck and interrupted her mid-babble.  She cocked her head, trying to figure out where it was coming from, and both boys jumped up.

“Do you feel that?” Vander asked, and Josslin nodded. 

“West.  Bier, stay here.” 

While Dan was still reeling from the uncanny impression she’d gotten, the other two were running out the door.  Literally _running,_ she realised a moment later, and briefly debated on whether or not to listen to Josslin’s hasty advice.  She’d never really listened to other people before and now wasn’t a good time to start.  Whatever she’d felt they felt it too, and that meant maybe they knew something.  _Curiousity may have killed the cat but satisfaction brought him back,_ she thought, and dashed through the door after them. 

There was nothing in sight when she finally got out of the house again.  Josslin had said _west_ , so she aligned herself with the sun and started sprinting.  After a few tense moments, she realised she was heading directly for her little campsite.  Heart in her throat, she pressed on.

 

By the time she caught up with them, whatever had happened was done.  Her tent was in shambles; it looked like it had been torn apart by a bear.  Huge gashes rent the canvas siding as though it was nothing more than paper, and there was nothing left of her sleeping bag except piles of fluff and padding.  Vander and Josslin, breathing hard but uninjured, were milling around surveying the destruction calmly.

Appalled, Dan couldn’t stop herself.  “My tent!”  Thankfully she’d brought all of the important stuff with her.  “What did you do?”  And then, with a second look at the canvas: “ _How_ did you do it?”  The rubberized canvas was built to withstand everything but a tree falling on it, and not even repeated attempts with a knife had put a hole through it.  Dulled the knife, though. 

Two sets of blue eyes turned to face her warily.  “We may need to talk to you,” Josslin said after a lengthy pause. 

“About how you randomly decide to destroy people’s homes?” 

“It was like that when we got here,” Vander said, bored.  “You’re just outside the Amarant property line, which is probably why they got you.  How long have you been here?”

Dan dropped the pieces of fluff she’d been staring at and scowled at him.  “Ready for your interrogation now?”

Vander stepped forward, but Josslin put a restraining hand on his shoulder.  “Not now,” he said, and Vander relaxed.  “You may as well come back to the house,” Josslin added, flicking a glance at her.  “All your stuff is in those two bags, right?  Or do you need to look here for anything?”

“They might come back,” Vander said, an urgency to his words that belied the uninterested tone. 

“Everything I owned was in the bags,” Dan said, ignoring the rest.  “But now I have nowhere to sleep.  Here’s a good deal; I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”

“Done,” Josslin said easily.

Vander stared at him, alarmed.  “But –”

“Leha’s due back soon anyway.”

“Code?” Dan interrupted, annoyed.  Josslin flashed her a friendly smile.

“Sort of.  I’ll explain later.”  He glanced around the dismembered campsite, and Dan had the distinct feeling that he was nervous about something.  “Let’s get out of here.”

They trooped back to the house in silence, involved in their own thoughts.  Dan was surprised by how familiar the sight of the house rising from the trees had already become.  _Any port in a storm,_ she thought, reflecting on the tatters of her tent.  Any house would seem welcoming after the things she’d been through. 

Back inside, Vander busied himself at the coffee pot again and Josslin and Dan sat back at the table.  “Alright,” Josslin began.  “First of all, how long have you been out there?”

Dan considered the question briefly.  “I’ve only been here for a couple of days,” she said.  “I got kicked out of the park downtown last week by the cops, so I needed somewhere to stay where the cops wouldn’t come and find me.”

“Alright,” Josslin said again, exchanging a glance with Vander.

“My turn,” Dan said.  “What the hell happened to my tent?”

Vander choked on a laugh.  “Sorry,” he said, waving away their attention.  “It’s going to take a while to explain that one.  You want to do it or should I?”

Josslin scowled at him.  “You always confuse people.  I’ll do it.  Alright, Bier – uh, by the way.  What’s your first name, anyway?”

Dan gaped at him in silence for a moment.  “Josslin, we’ve been in the same classes for three years.”

Vander snickered.

Josslin looked uncomfortable.

“I’m bad with names,” he said. 

“Jordan,” she said.  “My friends call me Dan.”

“You have friends?”

“Josslin!” Vander whipped a dish towel at Josslin’s head, looking scandalized.  “Who’s being rude now?”  Josslin rolled out of the way of the towel – right out of the chair and across the floor.  He snatched the towel from Vander and waved it like a flag of victory.

It was kind of like watching some sort of real life sitcom.  Dan hid her smile, and waited for the boys to straighten up. 

“That was inexcusable,” Josslin said after he’d put the towel back.  “I apologise most profoundly.  Of course I know you have friends.”

“You didn’t even know her name,” Vander pointed out, but Dan cleared her throat before they could get into it again. 

“I’ve seen her around, though, with that blonde girl.” 

“Kat,” Dan said, and then realised she’d utterly lost track of the conversation.   “What were we talking about?”

“Dumbass was explaining about what happened to your tent,” Vander supplied with a smirk.  He dodged the thrown towel and went to the fridge to get the milk back out. 

“Right,” Josslin said, taking a deep breath.  “This actually may be hard to believe.  Just… well, pretend, I guess.”  He aligned the salt and pepper shakers in the middle of the table.  “This is the human realm,” he said, gesturing to the pepper.  “This is where we all live.  You, me, the tent.  We’re all on this side.  But what most people don’t know is there’s another side.”  He picked up the salt and shook it gently.  “That’s where myths come from.”

“Excuse me?”

“Now you’re confusing her,” Vander said.

“You _always_ confuse people.”

“Just let me explain it.”  Vander took his chair and spun it around to sit in it so that his arms were folded across the back of it.  “Myths, legends, whathaveyou.  Know why no one’s seen a dragon or a unicorn or a leprechaun lately?”

“Um, because they don’t exist?” Dan asked, wondering what kind of lunatics she was sitting with. 

“Because the veil’s been strengthened.  Most of the Van Hellsings gave their lives during the middle ages to seal it up, and gradually people forgot those things were real.  But the stories came from somewhere, right?”

Picking up the thread of the story, Josslin continued.  “Most people forgot about them, but a couple of families kept the lore alive.  We come from a long line of psychics and ether-sensitive people, and we grew up knowing what was out there.”

“Now, though, the veil’s weakening again,” Vander interjected.  “So more things are getting through, except people have stopped believing in them so the attacks and random sightings are being passed off as hoaxes, drug abuse, and drunkenness.  It was some sort of demon that tore your tent apart, though I’m damned if I know why they targeted you specifically.”

Dan looked between the two with a bewildered expression on her face.  “Is it the water?” she asked suddenly, eyeing her coffee askance.  “Is it hallucinogenic drugs?  Because there’s help for people like you.”  She shoved her chair back from the table and started to rise, only to be stopped by Josslin’s hand on her shoulder.

“The only reason we told you is because Leha’s going to suppress your memory as soon as she gets back,” he said.  “Maybe it would have been safer for you to have gone to school today – ow!”  He jerked his hand back as though he’d been burned, and then gave her a searching look. 

“Sure,” Dan said, flippantly.  “It’s not like I believe you anyway.  So, since my memory is doomed to be suppressed either way, why don’t you keep explaining things?  Like why were you in the yard practicing with _swords?_   What exactly do you mean by ‘the veil’?  And what the hell is an ‘ether-sensitive’ person?”

The two boys exchanged an inscrutable look, then Vander shrugged.  “She’s your classmate.”

Josslin sat back down, and gave Dan a helpless look.  “Silver has always been effective against the Others’ creatures.  Since silver bullets are a pain, and guns make a lot of noise in addition to being dangerous to bystanders, swords are just as effective and half as dangerous.  The veil is the separation between worlds.  Ether-sensitives are people from normal families who have the extra gene that makes them receptive to things from the Others.  Mediums, psychics, ESP, telepathy – all of these things are byproducts of ether-sensitivity.”

Dan settled down in her chair and fixed her eyes on a scuff mark against the far wall.  They didn’t _seem_ crazy, until they opened their mouths.  “What,” she said before she knew she was going to speak.  “What about things like…shadows?” 

_Do I believe them?  Do I think they know what my problem is?  I should keep my mouth shut!_

Josslin raised an eyebrow.  “Shadows.”

“You’d probably think I was cra- well, maybe not.  Okay.  Um.  I see things.  Shadows.  Usually about the size of cats, and they walk around and do … cat things.”  She shrugged.  “And then sometimes there are dogs.  Big, menacing dogs.  They frighten me,” she added, and then wanted to sink through a hole in the ground. 

The two of them exchanged another glance.  “The shadow cats are harmless.  They usually portend good luck, or a change of circumstances.” Josslin paused and considered his next words.  “The dogs are more mysterious.  Sometimes they’re just harmless dogs, but then there are also the Grims.  Those are big black dogs that bring death.”

“Not many people know about the shadow cats,” Vander offered.  “You’re not just making this up?”

Dan scowled at them.  “Of course not.”  The back of her neck prickled and she frowned.  “Something’s outside.”

Another look passed between Vander and Josslin, and then Vander opened the back door.  A pile of bags and boxes stood there grunting, and then squealed happily.  “Fucking _yes_ , you got the door!  Thanks!” 

His face utterly blank, Vander stepped back and let the mountain of merchandise in.  It teetered over to the counter and everything suddenly toppled over, revealing a small, slender girl.  She couldn’t be older than about twenty, Dan thought, and then realised that this was probably Leha.   Relieved of her burden, the girl turned and shrieked.

“Omigod, there’s a girl here!”  She shot a dark look at both Vander and Josslin.  “What are you two doing with a girl in the house?”

Dan suddenly sprang to her feet, realising how awkward this seemed.  “I’m so sorry,” she said.  “I heard them practicing and came to visit, and then they gave me coffee and my tent was torn apart and I really ought to be going to find somewhere else to go right now.”

“Sit,” Leha said.  “My name’s Leha Corner, and you can finish your coffee and explain what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Dan,” Dan said weakly as she sat back down.  Leha couldn’t have been much more than five foot two, but she had a commanding presence that brooked no disobedience.  So she explained her story all over again while Vander and Josslin conferred quietly in the background.

“Leha,” Vander said when she was done talking.  Just her name, but as if he’d given explicit instructions, Leha rose and joined the two of them at the far side of the room.

“Finish your coffee,” Leha said with an imperious jab at the mug.  “I need to sort these two idiots out.”

Dan couldn’t help a little laugh, and she obediently took a pull of her coffee.  If someone had told her this morning she’d be sitting in the kitchen of a mansion where crazy people lived, she’d never have believed them.  _But on second thought…_ were they really crazy?  The more she thought about what they’d told her, the more things started to make sense.  The trio across the room were trying to keep their voices down, but the acoustics of the large room assured Dan that she could hear them just as well as if they were directly next to her.

“She’s weird,” Vander was saying.  “She was sleeping in a tent on the edge of our property because she got kicked out of the park.”

“She’s homeless you dumbass,” Leha said.  “She probably thought she’d be safe out there.  What’s this about her tent?”

“Demon got it,” Josslin whispered.  “She was in the house at the time, but there’s something else.  She knew you were outside.  That’s why Vander got the door.  Neither of us felt you out there or we’d have come out to help, you know we would have.  And there’s something weird about her. She’s too… jumpy.  And she knows about the shadows.”

All three of them turned to stare in her direction.  Dan redirected her gaze and tried to pretend she was just bored and looking around the kitchen.  She had good reason to be jumpy – not that she’d be sharing it with them any time soon – and Vander made her nervous.   She’d seen Josslin too much at school to be much impressed by him, though the sword-fighting and crazy psychic-talk was new.

“Well, if she’s homeless she has a right to be jumpy.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  You know the last time you did that it nearly burned down the house.”

“Well I know she’s not a demon this time!  I go to school with her.  I’d have noticed something like that.”

“Maybe she’s sensitive,” Vander offered, rubbing his jaw.  “I know she felt the demon at her camp before we did; did you get a look at her face when it was happening?”

“I didn’t have a chance to look at her face.  How do you notice things like that?”

“It keeps me from being eaten when you accidentally let demons into the house,” Vander said. 

Leha thumped him on the arm.  “Well, what should we do with her?”

“We were going to have you wipe her memory and send her on her way.  We told her about everything because we knew you’d be coming back soon.”

“You two fucking morons,” Leha snapped, without much heat.  “If she’s a sensitive, wiping her memory won’t work.”

“I guess we could just let her go.  Maybe find her a new tent, since it was our fault the old one got trashed.”

“Doesn’t Ryan have one in the attic he’s not using?”

“I’ll get it,” Vander offered, and left the room.  The other two came back towards Dan, who pretended she hadn’t just overheard the entire exchange. 

“It’s been nice meeting you,” Leha said.  “We’re gonna give you another tent, since yours got wiped out, and let you go.”

Even though she’d just heard them discussing it, Dan was still surprised by the bluntness of Leha’s words.  “No memory suppression?”

Leha grinned.  “Tell the truth – are you gonna tell anyone what we told you?”

“No one would believe me.  I barely believe you.”

**But you know it’s the truth.**

It was Leha’s voice, but her mouth hadn’t moved.  Dan jumped, and Leha’s grin widened.  “Maybe we ought to keep her,” she said, shooting a glance at Josslin. 

“She’s not a dog,” Vander said, returning with a bundle.  “You can set this up?”

Feeling like the ball in a tennis match, Dan nodded and accepted the folded tent.  “So,” she said, feeling awkward for the first time.  “Um, thanks for the tent.  I’ll get you some money for it when I get paid.”

“Don’t bother.  Ryan’s never going to use it.  He never even took the tags off.”  Leha waved a negligent hand, and opened the door.  The stench hit them all at once – a roiling, sour thing like spoiled milk.  Dan gagged, and Leha clapped a hand to her nose.  The boys made retching noises and Vander reached to shut the door.  “Maybe now’s not a good time.  Feel like hanging out for a bit?”

“I’ll bet this is the one that got her old tent,” Josslin said.  Dan coughed, trying to clear the miasma out of her throat, and glanced out the large window that took up most of the outside wall.  A six-legged creature stood just at the edge of the clearing, mottled green and brown with weirdly shaped joints. 

She couldn’t help herself.  The tent dropped to the floor and she screamed.  “What is that thing?!”

Vander put a soothing hand on her shoulder and looked out.  “Just a frog demon,” he said casually.  “Nothing to worry about, unless it gets close.”

“A f-frog…?”

“Demon,” Leha helpfully supplied.  “Which one of you monkeys is going to take care of it?”

“I’ll get it this time,” Josslin said, and Dan watched as he snatched up a sword from beside the door and actually went outside to confront the monster. 

It was the work of mere moments; he simply strode up to it and lopped its head off.  The body puffed into smoke and blew away in the breeze.  From where she was standing, Dan could make out the faintly scorched-looking grass where the demon’s body had fallen.  Aside from that, there was no trace that anything out of the ordinary had ever been there. 

“So I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve ever seen anything like that,” Leha said, taking Dan by the hand and leading her from the window.   Josslin was already on his way back into the house, wiping the sword on his pants.  Dan let herself be lead, and numbly sat back down at the table.  Vander dropped another cup of coffee in front of her and she absently picked it up and took a drink.  It wasn’t until the sweet warmth of the drink had reached her stomach that she felt sturdy enough to look up at them and think about what she’d just seen. 

“You weren’t lying.”

“I make it a point never to tell a lie when the truth is so much more,” Leha said. 

“So here’s the whole truth,” Josslin added, slinging the sword back into the umbrella stand.  “We’re actually a family of demon slayers.  We protect the regular people from the things that slip through the veil.”  


End file.
